Pai Gow is a well known gambling game which originated in China and is played with a set of thirty two tiles. Each tile includes a number of pips which indicate the rank of the tile. For reasons of tradition, the rank of the tile is not directly related to the number of pips on the tile. For example, a tile with twelve pips is the highest ranking tile; a tile with three pips is the lowest ranking tile.
A game of Pai Gow begins with the players making a wager. The dealer separates the tiles into eight piles of four tiles each. Three dice are rolled to determine the distribution of the tile hands. The tile hands are distributed to the players and each player organizes his or her tiles into a high hand and a low hand with each hand having two tiles. The low hand must have a lower ranking than the high hand according to the well known ranking of Pai Gow tiles. The dealer likewise organizes his or her tiles into high and low hands.
The wagers are resolved by comparing the rank of the player's high hand and low hand to the dealer's high hand and low hand, respectively. If both the player's high and low hands outrank the dealer's high and low hands, the player wins and is payed even money, less a five percent commission to the casino. If the dealer's high and low hands outrank the player's high and low hands, the dealer collects the player's wager. If one, but not both, of the player's hands outrank the one of the dealer's hands, the game is a push and the wager is neither collected nor paid.
Another game which utilizes Chinese tiles is called Tien Gow. The object of Tien Gow is to win points by taking tricks, much like card games such as bridge or hearts. To play Tien Gow, eight tiles are dealt to each player. One player leads by playing a tile combination composed of one to four tiles. Each player, in turn, plays a set composed of the same number of tiles. After all four players have played, the player who played the highest ranking set takes the trick. Tien Gow uses a ranking system similar to Pai Gow but has heretofore not been a viable game for use in casinos because the large number of tiles used in the game (eight rather than four) and the potential for cheating or cooperative play.
It can be seen that there is a need in the art for a gambling game different from Pai Gow which uses Chinese tiles and may be played in casinos.